Zortrax Super Hero Mask is New Approach to Cosplay

A huge hit with fans of cosplay and comics books, the Zortrax Super Hero Mask draws big crowds at trade shows. Now you can 3D print your own for free.

Polish 3D printer manufacturer Zortrax has released the blueprints for their impressive super hero mask, so you can download and 3D print the beginnings of your very own crime-fighting costume.

Cosplay is a big deal on the fan convention circuit. In case you’re not familiar, cosplay is essentially role-playing your favorite character from movies, TV shows, comic books, or any other artistic medium. And cosplayers will frequently surprise and delight their fellow fans with elaborate mash-ups, like a female version of Doctor Who (which is way overdue), or a Steampunk version of a Storm Trooper.

A great deal of craftmanship goes into these costumes, and thanks to modern technology they have dramatically evolved in complexity. To better reflect the image of a character, enthusiasts have moved on from textiles and cardboard to 3D printed props.

Zortrax recognizes the benefit of making props and costumes, since it opens up a huge opportunity for creative additive manufacturing. With this in mind, they’ve shared their artistic interpretation of a classic super hero mask.

The STL files can be freely downloaded, printed, and assembled on any 3D printer. Just mind your fingers on those pointy ears!

Zortrax Super Hero Mask: Build One of your Very Own

The benefit of using 3D printing for cosplay is that users can design each part of their costume themselves — and modify it however they wish.

Many folks still do extremely well by constructing their costumes manually with traditional methods, but it sometimes falls short for the cosplay fans who want to add some interesting personal touches. A 3D printer is a great tool that allows for elements of a costume to be made of stiff material, or imitate any solid parts, and it also allows for the costume to fit the user’s body perfectly too.

Piotr Czyżewski, the designer of the Zortrax super hero mask, took inspiration from a gothic super-hero character from popular culture, and added the anatomical elements of a spine, creating the impression of a solid shield. Over time, the design of the mask was iteratively tweaked to perfection.

After Czyżewsk was happy with his final design, he exported the file to the Z-Suite slicing software and prepared the model for the 3D printing process by choosing the printing material, layer thickness and type of infill.

The whole printing process took about 11 days to finish. Although this sounds like a long time, a complex model like this could not have been made as quickly if it had been outsourced and created using injection molding — that approach can require weeks or even months.

The 46 finished prints were then screwed together to create the mask. For display purposes, it was attached to a custom stand and LED lights inserted (which were soldered to the cables that connected them to the power supply). The final effect is a dangerous looking man-bat.